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Food Safety Is Important To Maintaining A Positive Image For Your Food Truck Operation

By Lawrence Reaves

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 15Feb2012 Word count: 553 Viewed: 57 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Owning a food truck business can be fun and rewarding. These self-contained operations offer you the chance to explore you culinary creative aspirations without the major investments involved in opening a permanent restaurant location. While there are many differences between, running a permanent restaurant and a food truck operation, food safety is equally important in both cases. The past stigmas attached to food trucks in regards to their cleanliness have mostly subsided with the new serge in food truck popularity. To ensure that your food truck is categorized in the new, clean, and tasty food truck category you need to establish a few food safety guidelines and strictly adhere to them. These are some of the most important food safety practices that should be followed when you open a food truck business.

It does not matter how educated you are about food safety, if the rest of your staff does not share your knowledge it will be hard for you to implement safe food practices. Make a food safety training program a major part of your new hire training. During this training it is important that you explain the reasons for all of your food safety procedures and clearly define the consequences of both the business and the employee if they are not followed. If all of your employees are educated about the reasons for food safety they will be more likely to strictly adhere to your policies.

Proper cleanliness is imperative if you want to create a safe and sanitary food truck business. In most places it is against the law for employees not to wash their hands after using the restroom. In addition to washing their hands after every break, employees should be encouraged to wash their hands after handling raw meat, cleaning supplies, or other potentially hazardous items to avoid cross contamination. While some food in your cart will be cooked, other items such as produce used for salads, garnish, or other fresh dishes may not be cooked. All produce should be washed prior to serving to eliminate any bacteria or dirt. The overall cleanliness of your food truck is also important. Encourage your employees to regularly clean all preparation and cooking surfaces in your truck. You should have a traditional three sink washing system in place to wash all utensils and pans used in you food truck. In addition to daily maintenance you should establish end of shift cleaning chores and also monthly deep cleaning of your truck. Your food truck represents your brand both inside and out. You want to customers to feel completely safe ordering food from your operation.

Maintaining proper refrigeration in your truck is also very important. All dairy and other refrigerated food items have expiration dates; you should strictly adhere to these dates and regularly check that your refrigeration temperatures are no higher than forty degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature in your refrigerator reaches 41 degrees Fahrenheit it will compromise the food being stored there and could allow bacteria to grow that can cause food poisoning. If this occurs you should immediately dispose of all food in the refrigerator and have the system serviced immediately. In addition to food storage temperatures it is also important to maintain proper cooking temperatures to eliminate any bacteria especially in the case of meat products.

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